SCAD’s annual deFINE ART series is a true cornucopia of talks, exhibits, and celebrations of contemporary art’s most influential creators. It was a special treat to take a sneak peak of two of the new exhibits opening at the SCAD Museum of Art and to be told about them by the super-articulate Curator, Ben Tollefson.
We start in the Walter and Linda Evans Center for African American Studies dedicated to solo presentations by prominent African American artists and to works from their collection, and are immediately confronted with a giant neon letter X.
X is the solo debut museum exhibition of Awol Erizku (b.1988, Ethiopia) which focuses on pioneering American Muslim human rights activist, Malcolm X. Before entering the main exhibition space, we look at a display case containing one of the more fascinating pieces from Dr. Evans’ vast collection: a very hopeful letter written by Malcolm X after his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964. This was such a valuable time of spiritual growth that he changed his name to the Muslim name El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, truly feeling Islam could alleviate the racial problems of the United States. He would be assassinated a year later.
The handwritten letter and the huge neon X commissioned by the university set the tone for the exhibition.
Erizku attended NYC’s Cooper Union before receiving an MFA from Yale University. Living and working in LA he has built a both a commercial practice (his famous image of a pregnant Beyonce became the most-liked image ever on Instagram when it was posted in 2017) and a fine art multi-disciplinary practice encompassing photography, sculpture, film, and sound. His work rejects Eurocentric notions of art and beauty in favor of building an Afrocentric aesthetic he refers to as “Afroestoericsm.” Hence the gallery walls are freshly painted in red, black and green - the colors of the Pan-African flag, and hence a photograph of an African mask on fire - liberating us from a Western perspective of African tropes.
One small conceptual piece is a knife stabbing the book “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Malcolm X and Alex Haley. Here, Erizku is both referencing the activist’s 1965 assassination and his famous quote, “If you stick a knife in my back 9 inches and pull it out 6 inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that’s not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the blow made."
While many of Erizku’s works allude to Malcolm X and how he serves as a key figure connecting the U.S. and Africa, others do not. For example, he is really interested in conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) who famously gave up his art career to play chess. SCAD commissioned the creation of a chess board and chairs, and a set of custom molded, ice chess pieces displayed inside a vintage icebox. Tollefson explains that Erizku uses the idea of chess as opposing forces, two factions battling each other, but ultimately it is “a hopeful piece” because trying to make strategic moves with chessmen made of ice is a futile act.
Another example of work that does not directly reference Malcolm X (but does reference his Muslim faith) is the beautiful photographs Erizku took during his site visit to Savannah: one is of a local iman (a mosque prayer leader in the Muslim faith) with his prayer mat, captured in the golden glow of sunset on the iconic oak-lined driveway of Wormsloe. Another is of a young woman in a hijab praying in a local airport under an American flag which, as Tollefson says, “makes us flip the image of our usual perception of Muslims in airports - a very charged image post 911.”
Leaving the Walter and Linda Evans Center, we are instantly confronted with a striking juxtaposition of two cultures: the former Pan African and this one Greco-Roman. Here is the work of Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Cammie Staros (b.1983, Nashville, TN) who received her BA from Brown University in 2006 and her MFA from Cal. Institute of the Arts in 2011. Her SCAD exhibition, curated by Tollefson, is called Sunken City.
The show's winding layout references the labyrinth from the myth of the minotaur, and within this structure Staros presents new ceramic vessels atop beautiful pedestals; a bulky, yet refined, carved marble sculpture; curvaceous “shell pots” – terracotta amalgams of shells and pots; strangely beautiful “wavy pots” which directly reference images seen on black and red figure antiquities; and wall hangings constructed from ancient Greek coins cast in ceramic and joined by fine gold chains resembling spider webs.
Staros explores how Greco-Roman mythologies and narratives inform our understanding of the world. The idea of how a museum displays antiquities is questioned; for example, she shows two of her vessels in aquariums with live fish.
Both Cammie Staros and Awol Erizku will give an artist talk at 11am on Tuesday, February 27 at the SCAD Museum of Art, 601 Turner Street. And, of course, don’t miss the Museum’s opening party for their shows on Tuesday from 6:30 to 8pm.
Other shows on view at the SCAD Museum of Art on the evening of February 27 include new acquisitions from the Foundation of Saul Steinberg (b.1914, Ramnicu Sarat, Romania; d. 1999, New York) in Saul Steinberg: Drawing, Looking, Living; The Slant of Thirsting Mouths by Sujay Shah (b. 1991, Nairobi, Kenya) who earned his BFA in Painting from SCAD in 2013; the installation Silhouettes in Lune by Cindy Ji Hye Kim (b. 1990, Incheon, Korea); the fashion-focused group exhibition GENDERQUAKE: Liberation, Appropriation, Rejection; the intriguing The Burden of the Invisible by Ivan Argot (b. 1983, Bogota, Columbia) which “reimagines historical monuments in Savannah and around the world, reflecting on their purpose and proposing alternative realities;” Watermarks by sculptor Holly Hendry (b.1980, London); and finally, At the Edge of Superhumanity by Cao Fei (b. 1978, Guangzhou, China) which transforms two galleries into an immersive, multimedia installation. A 40-minute choreographed performance entitled Hakanai, featuring Japanese cancer Akiko Kajihara, follows the opening party at 8pm
There are also two other shows, displayed at other venues. SCAD deFINE ART 2024 Painting and Photography Showcase has an opening reception at Alexander Hall, 668 Indian Street, on Thursday, February 29 from 5-7pm. Juried by the Museum's curators, the work is from graduate students nominated by their professors. Additionally, there is a group show of 45 images from SCAD student photographers on display at the Gutstein Gallery, 201 E. Broughton Street. SCAD x Leica: Power in Perspective hangs through April 29 and was juried by ambassadors from Leica, the leading camera manufacturer and photography brand.
I also recommend attending the conversation between New York-based art historian and curator, RoseLee Goldberg, and deFINE ART 2024’s special honoree, Cao Fei, at the Trustees Theater, 216 E. Broughton Street, on Wednesday, February 28 at 5pm. Internationally regarded as one of the most influential and innovative Chinese artists of her generation, Cao Fei explores the impact of social and cultural change, particularly as it relates to Chinese citizens. The evening will also include recognition of Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Lavar Munroe (b.1982, Nassau, Bahamas) who graduated SCAD in 2007 with a BFA in Illustration. Munroe will be presented with the SCAD45 award honoring the rising acclaim for his extensive interdisciplinary practice.
SCAD’s 2024 iteration of deFine ART is a truly prestigious and international representation of some of the most exciting contemporary artists of our time. Be sure not to miss it! All talks and opening receptions are free and open to the public. Full information at scad.edu/defineart2024.
